Trademark Properties V. A&E Television Networks

Montelongo Foreclosure and Court Activity

It appears that Armando Montelongo experienced difficulty with some recent financing from VCH Funding Corporation. Montelongo’s company, Mandoman Management, Inc., fought off August 7, 2007, foreclosures on four separate properties by obtaining a temporary restraining order, allowing Montelongo the time necessary to line up alternate financing. The restraining orders ended on August 21, 2007. The cases now indicate that they have been terminated. Neither Montelongo’s Attorney nor VCH Funding have returned calls requesting comment.

Stopping the foreclosures, if alternate funding can be obtained, is an very smart move. Same allows the lender to receive cash instead of properties, and allows the owner to continue forward with efforts to sell the properties for a profit. An important lesson to be learned in the current real estate market is that owners should communicate with their lenders when business is not going as planned. Often, lenders are willing to work with a borrower, or will at least delay action if the borrower presents a solid plan that benefits all parties.

Additionally, public records searches have uncovered additional foreclosures and civil cases, all of which may be of interest to our readers. Due to the high cost of copying, some of the civil cases only include dockets, and some foreclosures do not include deeds or trust and acquisition deeds.

Thus far, the producers of Flip This House have been unwilling to show viewers less than successful results. As the market declines, property flippers across the country are suddenly finding that they’ve overbuilt, overpaid, or overestimated demand in their areas. Now is a perfect opportunity for A&E to show the bad, as well as the good.

Failure can often be more educational than success.

63 Comments on “Montelongo Foreclosure and Court Activity”

Did anybody watch the short series on Bravo called “FLIPPIN’ OUT”? There was alot of “acting” in the show for entertainment purposes I know, however it looked like the two business partners knew what they were doing….looked they catered mostly to high-end clients.

Luckily for Armando he doesn’t flip as many houses as he claims. So it looks like it’s back to the welfare line, huh??? Maybe a good healthy diet of government cheese will help him lose some weight. And it looks like Veronica is going to lose 250+ lbs very soon….

Quite a list there, wonder what’s eventually going to happen with them all. I dont understand the need for the divorce filing though, other than for those that are happy for any misfortune on the Mongeloids.

Oh, please. Yes, the real estate market is bad right now — everyone knows that. But from the moment the Montelangos stepped foot on the “Flip” stage, it was ghetto all the way. I HATED it from that moment on and immediately stopped tivoing it. I was never so happy as when I found Richard & Co. back on with “Real Estate Pros.” I truly believe you reap what you sow — Trademark truly is in it for the right reasons and is professional all the way. You do business that way, the money will follow. Montelango & even the other team(s) A&E started featuring were all about the money, and it didn’t matter who they stepped over in the process. When Trademark left A&E, they took every shred of class with them. I just wish there were more new episodes of Real Estate Pros to watch!! 🙂

Wonder if the folks sponsoring this seminar checked his credentials? Think they know half flips have gone into foreclosure because they flopped? Bottom line with this man is he will stop at nothing a make a dollar off anyone he can. I actually watched another episode of flip this house of out boredom last week, a new episode without his brother, and I see he has a general contractor in charge now of hiring sub contractors, and at least they don’t show him trying to cheat the subs anymore! It was pretty funny though. He let his wife run the project (cause he had to write his book on how to flip houses and get it to the publisher), but he just had to butt in on some demo and ended up destroying a building because he could not operate the bulldozer. Killed the integrity of the structure and the ended up tearing it down, instead of just shearing off an addition. Think he admitted any fault (or allocated more money to the budget)? hmmmph!!

Consider this interesting article. Looks like Armando Sr. is successful and if you take Armando Jr.’s bio at face value – maybe his dad will have nothing to do with him. Notice Armando’s bio says he’s the 7th of 8 kids. Rick is the “runt”. Looks like Sr. passed over Jr.

Friday, January 16, 1998
Family-owned firm is building for the futureSan Antonio Business Journal – by Tricia L. Silva
Print Article Email Article Reprints RSS Feeds Add to Del.icio.us Digg This
For Armando Montelongo Sr., the inspiration to start his own company wasn’t the entrepreneurial spirit that lights a fire under so many small-business owners.

For Montelongo, starting his own business 23 years ago was more a matter of simple economics.

“My dad had been a football coach and a teacher,” says Montelongo’s son, Rick, of his father. “But he couldn’t feed eight kids on that salary.”

With that as his motivation, Armando Montelongo Sr. in 1975 founded Montelongo Lumber Co. as a lumber and remodeling business. He passed the reigns of the company on to his son, Rick, the self-proclaimed “runt of the family,” in 1993.

It was under Rick Montelongo’s leadership that the company, now known as Montelongo Homes and Remodeling, not only took its new name but also went in a new direction of business. From its roots in custom remodeling work, the company has expanded its services to also include custom and semi-custom home-building.

Rick Montelongo is not hesitant to say that his company has a large following. He says gross sales for the company last year totaled $2.5 million. He predicts that total will increase to about $4.5 million this year.

The 10-employee company operates out of office space in North Central San Antonio at 8000 West Ave. According to Montelongo, the business has a pool of about 100 trade people that are used on a contract basis.

Montelongo attributes the company’s standing in part to having a name that has become well-recognized in the city. But having innovative marketing techniques has helped as well, he says. It’s hard to miss a construction site, especially when it involves a new or existing house in your neighborhood.

Montelongo says he has learned how to use human curiosity to the best of his ability.

“For each project, we send a mail-out to each person around the vicinity of the home,” he says.

The intended result is having signs at the front of the targeted house stating who is in charge of the project, as well as reminding the neighbors of the company’s craftsmanship. That method, combined with some radio advertising, has turned out to be an effective way for the company to spread its name.

Montelongo will gain further exposure this year by participating in the 1998 Traditional Parade of Homes at The Village Green subdivision, which is located near Interstate Highway 10 West and Ralph Fair Road. According to Montelongo, his company’s participation in this annual event is a strong statement about the company’s success.

“You put a lot on the line to build a speculative home,” he says. “(Our participation) shows that the company is in a good financial position and that banks are willing to lend money (to us) on a speculative basis.”

99% of these big mouth’s are all wanna be hot shots when the markets are good just like stocks, they think things will be good forever… its not until the bad times that these punks all get reality checks. The old school italians said it best ” you wanna make money, go to work”. Today there’s so many dirtbags looking to scam people, how the hell do they sleep at night ? Don’t believe these joker real estate agents either, real estate is going to be in the toilet for at least 5-6 more yrs, I don’t care what the “so called experts” tell you. I also wonder how the gov’t allows so many of these imposters on t.v. makes ya wonder whos got their hands in on it doesn’t it ?
You want to make money? do it the honorable way, EARN IT !!
I can’t believe how many dirtbags are in this world. God is watching dirtbags

Having been a Real Estate Broker/Owner and Buyer’s (only) Broker, I watched a couple of Montelongo’s shows and knew this guy was a fraud, along with his whole family. Seems he is just what I had assumed. Knowing the business, and thinking you know the “business” are worlds apart.

The balls of this guy telling people they can become “expert witneses” in Real Estate legal cases. You have to have the background of successful closings, successful arbitration (witness) credibility…and especially the REAL ESTATE LAW BACKGROUND AND KNOWLEDGE THAT COMES WITH ‘EXPERIENCE’!

I have enjoyed watching Richard Davis’ Trademark shows, but gotta give you guys credit, as those cost over-runs and the time table(s) would give me an ulcer!

25 years EXPERIENCE in this business, and since ’87, Single Agency (buyers only)…I would project, depending on whether the government gets involved and freezes the mortgage rates for EXISTING BAD LOANS (which could kill values)…we won’t see the most foreclosures until later this year.

If you have to buy now…work with a Buyer Broker who has the “experience” to discount these current sale prices by at minimum 20%..even 30%, and plan to live in that home for the next 10 years!

Property located on Stage Coach LN, The SLUM LORDS received 7 citations from the City of San Antonio for code violations, On TWO citations the city took action and cleaned up the property and filed liens against the property.

The citations were filed under Veronica’s name.

A quick check on the City’s website revealed have been cited on several occasions on other properties they own.

[…] Re: Flip this House – on A&E Very interesting: Found another lawsuit: Flip This Lawsuit » Montelongo Foreclosure and Court Activity This link also points to a lawsuit involving brother Dave. That link is at the top of the page. OVerall nice to see Armondo sinking under his own BS. How sweet it is. __________________ "When life gives you lemons, squirt lemon juice in your enemy’s eyes." […]

the man is a classic scamunist,his all important profits will be spent on legal fees and lawsuits,the man is a d!@k to his employees and has no people skills,brent should not have to learn spanish ,, this is still AMERICA ,armondo does everything on the cheap, i woulndt buy a house from him or any of his associates.I WISH THEM LUCK,, THEY WILL NEED IT

Armando’s own sibling walked away from him ON CAMERA. Can you blame him? He and his wife said they could not continue to be part of such an operation (paraphrased). Armando is a loud mouth and his on-screen show-off nonsense (complete with girls-against-boys frathouse pranks) make him look both immature and sleazy. Here’s a toast to you and your integrity, David and Melina… Remember the old addage, “The best revenge is living well… without you.” Joyce Carol Oates

I think your show is great and who cares what the haters think, they are just jealous of your success. If you and your wife were in California I would buy one of your flips, and your wife has excellent taste and knows how to stretch a buck! Keep it up piss all those haters off.

I don,t care what anybody is saying about
armando montolongo -he has a good show and wish new ones are on the way very soon .he is a busness-man and made a lot of money -so all you people telling bad stories –i have to say –you wish it was you in his shoes ,and better keep your thoughts to yourselve .
thanks -Armando and Veronica – keep up the good work
greta

Sad to see them going through these troubles.. But, at the end of the day what goes around comes around is NOT an understatement. I, like many other people did watch the show, and loved it! Just sad to see it wasn’t what it appeared to be. On the other hand, I did flip a house. On my own! It did take me a year and a half, as I did the work myself and on weekends. So I know for a fact if you do things the right way, they do pay off in the end.

L<et me tell you guys a little story . My partner and I found a super deal on a property in our area . We called his coaching staff for some help and they told us to find a private investor , sell the property to him for $5000 and pay $3200 for them to coach us . W T F !!!!

I’ve done some research, backed up by a lawyer friend. Mr. Monetelongo is not in foreclosure on his properties and not in bankruptcy, as many people believe.

As far as the show, remember, this is “show biz.” He’s not going to put up a lot of boring stuff so people turn the channel, and he believes in himself, so he has a strong personality. Yes it shows, it’s TV…

This nation is in a heep of trouble so its obvious that if your not carefull and overbuild in the wrong area your going to your A S. Dont blame anyone but your self for making the wrong mistakes. tis buisness is not for everyone. I own several properites and do it all may self and only sub-out major trades like plumbing. I can do that because I have a Calif General Blicense . Rookines shoud stay with what the know, 9 to 5. What a bunch of winers. Im like Mr Potter in Its a Wonderfull Life ,while everyone is selling Im buying everthing I can.

Jane Horton-Leasman:
“protecting your karma”??? How about just doing the right thing?? Why don’t people just do the right thing, period? You are admitting that you are doing the right thing for your benefit, so it doesn’t come back to bite you in the a*s. You remind me of one of those bible thumpers that spreads the good word to ensure their ticket to heaven. What about doing the right thing, PERIOD? Do the right thing to make the world a better place. Not YOUR world a better place, THE world.

This is a common theme with alot of Armando’s students. The coaching program is reason why the cost are so high. Premier Mentoring does all Armando’s coaching programs. The program itself is poorly formatted and the coaches are simply not good teachers for the basic beginners in Real Estate. This combination creats way more failures than successes. If you notice in Armando’s testimonials, he uses old testimonials and has very few new ones. If a program has good content, comprensive and good customer service, the successes will be forthcoming on regular basis. Armando had the opportunity to put a good product out there, but he chose to hurry up a quicky program to captilize on popularity for a quick buck. Now he struggles to put out these small real estate courses because his name has been dragged through the mud. He has done this to himself and now must pay for his actions.

Wow, I’m shocked by the negativity found on these posts. I have been in real estate for over 15 years and received his materials to review for my company. I believe it’s an excellent program that can offer value.

The comments about his family is very telling. Seems like sour folk who will never know the entrepreneur spirit. The Rockefellers and Kennedys did worse and made hundreds of millions in the process.

Its a cut throat business, know. Years of experience have taught me to have perspective on things before judging anyone or anything.

Is there any one out there that can help me. Armando did the same thing to me. My husband and I purchased a house from him in “06” and he borrowed alot of money on our house “AFTER” the contract was signed.
He is a scam, crook and anything else in that category. He is going to get what he deserves, if it is the last thing I do. (legally)

I have watched this conniving crook get away with remodeling homes so half ass that I honestly felt sorry for anyone who purchased any of them. If you see the name Montelongo associated with anything you should run and run fast. Obviously this is a family who knows the system and know what to do to avoid any punishment from the legal system. I watched this man see a house full of mold, only remove some of the drywall but never removed the mold and put it up for sale. How does any municipality watch this show see all the illegal short cuts this man takes and allow people to live in these homes. Montelongo claimed bankruptcy, said he was only receiving 150.00 a month in social security benefits and now owns a production company in California stealing money from thousands. He is good. What is really unfortunate is he is stealing from his own. Thousands of latin americans believe in this guy meanwhile he’s ripping them off. If anyone after reading these links and comments still invest their hard earned money into him they deserve what they get. And what’s unfortunate is he has a son who is going to grow up to be a thief like his crooked, scheming mother and father. God bless America.

I’ve been a General Building Contractor in Calif. for 35 years, built hudreds of single family & Commercial developments, been through 4 recessions, been rich & broke a few times. I no longer have to worry about money, I watched this young family. And I really liked his wife who seemed to do her best, Armondo was a different story, a young buck full of B.S. To bad he never realized he did not walk on water, & treated people so poorly, had I done buss. with him he would have learned a very good lesson early on. People have not ever walked on me. You do reap what you sow, I hope Veronica & his Son do well in spite of this foolish over size egomaniac.